Episode 9 (THE STICHNALE!!)

Haha, I was worried I wouldn't get any more questions!!

1)I probably would've chosen Fenrir tbh. He and Zod were serious challenge beasts through the whole game, and we got along quite well during the game, so I'm very happy to be partnered with him. I also would be happy pairing with Kirby, but I don't think he'd give me a better chance at winning compared to Fenrir. I would've loved it if me & Ted could've rode it out to the end, but this is definitely the second best outcome for me.

2)Oh 3, absolutely. If Fenrir/Zod got all the way to F3 they had a very good chance at winning that last immunity and would probably stomp whoever the last district happened to be. I'm also glad to have broken up 4, because they were strong competitors in their own right.

3)It has to be the last pre-merge boot for sure where we voted out D10. It completely shifted the game and tore apart the majority alliance we had, and truthfully I don't know if it was the best move for my game. I'd like to think we still would've booted 4 at merge even if I didn't immunity, but I have no idea how that would've played out otherwise. It's tough to say I'd do anything differently though, because in the end I did get to finals with a partner I'm content about, and outside of the entire district 12 surviving it's not like there were much better match-ups anyhow. If I lose here it'll more likely than not be on my performance this challenge than any move I've made in the past, so yeah I don't think I'd do anything differently. I wonder if me & Ted might've won F4 if we switched roles, but who knows how F3 would've shook up then.

4)The four tributes gathered in the center of the arena, glaring at each other with piercing daggers. On the right, Stitch had his four legs arched, his antennas standing tall, his laser gun strapped onto his belt, and beside him was Fenrir, showing off his jagged teeth as he snared. Opposing them were Tetra, with her dagger sharpened and gun loaded, and Kirby, who, well, just bounced around for a bit. Effie Trinket enters center stage. "Welcome, final tributes!" she bellows. "You have all fought long and hard to get to the end, but only two of you will come out alive at the end of this final challenge. You should know the rules by now: last man, woman, or creature standing wins, no ifs ands or buts. Don't go trying the stunt Katniss and Peeta worked during last hunger games, because it certainly will not work here! Would anyone like any clarification?" The arena stood silent for five seconds, which Effie took as a yes. "Splendid! Then, without further ado, for the last time, let the games begin!"

The tributes were off. Tetra unsheathed her dagger, hoping to get an easy stab in, but Stitch rolled over in the nick of time, barely dodging her thrust. He extended his claws and scratched her along the waist as he passed by, and she screeched in pain. However, what Stitch didn't realize was that he was rolling straight towards Kirby, with no way to stop his momentum. Kirby opened his mouth and created a vortex of wind, sucking Stitch inside his round body. But before he could do much damage, Fenrir transformed into his werewolf form and leaped straight towards Kirby, biting him on the side. Kirby yelped as he spit Stitch out, though he still swallowed him long enough to equip his powers. Using the blue claws he inherited from Stitch, he retaliated by swiping Fenrir at the waist, badly injuring him. Pulling out his laser gun, also inherited from Stitch, he began shooting at the opposing district. Stitch was able to dodge his shots using swift barrel rolls, but Fenrir, haven recently been injured, was not as unfortunate and received several blows to the chest. Badly injured, the werewolf collapsed to the ground, gasping in pain. "Alright, there's one down," Effie said nonchalantly. "Someone get him to the hospital please!"

Stitch gulped, realizing he was all on his own now. Tetra pulled out her gun too, and Stitch found himself having to dodge two pairs of bullets. Stitch, however, was unconcerned, having faced much worse before. He dashed towards Tetra, swiping the gun out of her hand. Kirby still continued shooting, which turned out to harm more than help. Tetra screeched, rubbing the sore spot on her black as she glared at her teammate. The pink ball blushed, slowly withdrawing his gun in embarrassment. Stitch used the distraction to swipe Tetra across the face, whipping out his gun and shooting her several times over. The pirate gasped, she too collapsing on a heap in the floor. "How marvelous!" Effie announced, oblivious to the bleeding girl on the floor. "We now have a 1 v 1 showdown between Kirby and Stitch, each of them equally matched. I love myself an exciting finale! ... Oh, and could someone get a stretcher for Tetra, please? Thank you!"

Stitch and Kirby glared each other down like they were in a Western shootout, their identical guns clenched on their waists. Stitch eyed his opponent carefully. He knew Kirby was more versatile than he was, but he knew he was also much more agile. If he could keep his distance and avoid getting sucked in, perhaps he could have a chance at winning. Kirby was the first to fire, launching several green beams straight at Stitch. He rolled away from all of them, firing several shots back of his own. Kirby didn't have much horizontal range, but he certainly made up for it vertically. He sucked in air and leaped one, two, three steps in the air, dodging all of Stitch's bullets. Stitch aimed his gun haphazardly, finding it much difficult to shoot upwards. Kirby, however, found it much easier to shoot from his elevated position, shooting Stitch several times. Stitch was unable to dodge them and collapsed on the floor. Each shot made it harder and harder for the alien to get up, and he thought he'd be down for good with one more shot. Kirby readied his gun, aiming perfectly at Stitch's head, and pulled the trigger, quickly realizing nothing but dust was coming out. He tried several more times with diminishing returns, concluding his limited ammo had already run out.

Kirby descended to the floor, throwing his gun to the side. Although he lost his gun, he still donned Stitch's sharp claws, and if he could suck the blue alien in one more time, he'd have more than enough ammo to finish him off. Stitch panted as he arose, considering his options. His speed had been greatly reduced, but he could still roll around quite efficiently. If he could get away far enough, perhaps he could shoot the pink ball from afar. Kirby dashed straight towards Stitch, the alien responding with a shift barrel roll to the side. Stitch quickly realized he was even slower than he anticipated, having only gotten a few feet away from Kirby. They'd be chasing each other all day at this rate, and Stitch feared he'd run out of energy much faster than his opponent. Kirby charged towards him once more, and it dawned on Stitch that he wasn't restricted to mere rolling. Before Kirby could get any closer, he leaped in the air, jumping over the pink ball. Kirby, taken aback from the switch in direction, skid his shoes in the dirt, taking quite a while to slow to a stop. Stitch took advantage of Kirby's slow turn around by sniping him several times while airborne. Kirby yelped as he fell to the floor, slowing returning to his feet after several seconds. "It seems like both competitors have taken quite the blow!" Effie interrupted. "Who will claim victory in this final showdown?"

Kirby glared at the blue alien. He puffed up in the air, hoping to get some longitude over him. Stitch was confused as to what the pink alien was attempting, but knew better than to not take every chance he got. He sharpened his claws, prepared to leap up and snipe Kirby for the easy win, until it dawned on him that something about this seemed too easy. He hesitated right at the last second, just in time to see Kirby transform into a heavy weight and plummet to the floor, narrowly missing the alien by inches. "Ooh, Kirby almost caught him in a sneak attack there!" Effie commented. Stitch was stunned for a second, taken off-guard by Kirby's move, then realized Kirby was still stuck in his weight form. Stitch had no idea how long it would last, but had no time to waste. He grasped the 100 ton barbell by his claws and began swinging him around and around. Kirby screamed, not anticipating the little alien would be so strong even after being injured. "And it looks like Stitch is prepping to launch Kirby across the entire arena!" Effie bellowed. "What an exciting conclusion to our fight!" Stitch spun faster and faster the more he circled around, swinging so fast he looked like a tiny blue tornado from above, until he let go of Kirby, who transformed into a pink ball just in time to see himself shooting towards the sky.

"How thrilling!" Effie screamed, to the roar of the crowd below. "Stitch has launched Kirby towards the sky, and it looks like he's heading straight towards me! ... Wait a minute..." Kirby crashed through Effie's glass bunker, zooming straight towards Effie's nose. He bonked on her microphone, which slammed into her nose and lurched her head backwards momentarily. She wiped a swap of blood off of her nose and gasped. "MY NOSE!" she screamed. "Dammit, I just got a nose job last week!" Kirby laid on the velvet carpet, barely gasping as he bled on the floor. "And my beautiful carpet's ruined too!" she pouted, watching the pool of blood forming on the carpet. "OK, fine, you win, Stitch! I hope you're happy, because I'm certainly not! Someone book me another nose surgery, stat!"

(In hindsight I probably should've switched Tetra and Fenrir's order of elimination, but I spent way too long trying to write this and can't be bothered changing anything. I hope that's dramatic enough for you, Peeta!)

5)I really liked the bot challenge! I was sad that I missed out on the Big Brother Bots back when they used to run, so I'm glad I got a taste of it this game! It was pretty neat to play a little survivor game inside this suvivor-esque game, and my strategy ended up working out really well.

BONUS)I thought the Chatzy challenges we played were really fun (and it helps that I won both of them, hehe), and I'd like to thank the mods especially for their modding their since it can be quite hard and taxing to try to manage things in real time (that includes you too, Peeta! Thank you for stepping in as moderator for me & Ted during the code words challenge! <3) I would also like to thank the mods for the job they did overall and being super generous with deadline extensions when I and others needed it. The game went very smoothly for the most part, and even the minor hiccup regarding the first immunity challenge was handled professionally and didn't impact the game as much as it could have. Thank you for working tirelessly to run this game. This game literally couldn't be possible without you all, Effie, Serena, and Caesar! <3

I guess it doesn't matter so much on my end since the next time I'll be on is tomorrow night, but I could let Fenrir start earlier if it's meant to be a super long challenge.